LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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PRESENTED BY 



UMTED STATL3 OF AMERICA. 



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New- York Historical Society. 



CIRCULAR TO MEMBERS. 



1864.. 



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OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 

ELECTED JANUARY, 1 864. 



President, 
FREDERIC DE PEYSTER. 

First Vice-Presideiit^ 
THOMAS DE WITT, D.D. 

Second Vice-President, 
BENJAMIN ROBERT WINTHROP. 

Foreig7i Corresponding Secretary, 
GEORGE BANCROFT, LL.D. 

Domestic Corresponding Secretary, 
SAMUEL OSGOOD, D.D. 

Recording Secretary, 
ANDREW WARNER. 

Treasurer, 
BENJAMIN H. FIELD. 

Librarian, 
GEORGE HENRY MOORE. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 



FIRST CLASS FOR. ONE YEAR. 

AUGUSTUS SCHELL, ERASTUS C. BENEDICT, 

BENJAMIN W. BONNEY. 

SECOND CLASS FOR TWO YEARS. 

JOHN ROMEYN BRODHEAD, WILLIAM CHAUNCEY, 

CHARLES P. KIRKLAND. 

THIRD CLASS FOR THREE YEARS. 

GEORGE FOLSOM, GEORGE GIBBS, 

ROBERT L. STUART. 

AUGUSTUS SCHELL, Chairman. 
GEORGE H. MOORE, Secretary. 

[The officers of the Society are members, ex officio, of the Executive 
Committee.] 



COMMITTEE ON THE FINEARTS, 



ABRAHAM M. COZZENS, WILLIAM J. HOPPIN, 

JONATHAN STURGES, HAMILTON FISH, 

ANDREW WARNER, WILLIAM H. ASPINWALL. 

ABRAHAM M. COZZENS, Chairman. 
ANDREW WARNER, Secretary. 

[The President, Librarian, and Chairman of the Executive Com- 
mittee are members, ex officio, of the Committee on the Fine Arts.] 



NeiD-iork C)t5torical Societ}}. 



ABSTRACT OF REPORTS FOR THE YEAR 1863. 



REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

No previous year of the Society's history bears a more honorable 
or cratifying record of progress and prosperity. It is reaping the fruits 
of a%teadfast adherence to a poHcy and system of management long since 
determined on in this institution, and rigidly carried out. A fundamental 
principle of this policy is, to incur no debts. The Society at this time 
has no debt, and no outstanding bills whatever, and closed the year with 
a balance of ^1,762 (seventeen hundred and sixty-two dollars) mthe 
Treasury. A portion of this balance belongs, by previous appropriation, 
to the Library account, but there is no debt or outstanding obligation to 
reduce it. 

SPECIAL FUNDS. 

The Society has received since its incorporation three legacies in 

money, viz. : — „ ^ i- 

^ I. The Thomas Fund. 

In ,8,2. a lc«cy of three hundred dollars was reeeived from Isaiah 
Thomas, the vene'rable Massaehusetts printer and '^.t-'he founder of 
le L rican Antiquarian Society. It «s probably absorbed n ,h 
various expenses of the Soeiety about the time tt »-as received but has 
be : Te-est^blished by the separate investment of the "^^^^ 
priatine that sum derived from fees of commutation for l.fc membcships. 
r now invested in the bonds of the United f ^^e" uCr^:; 
Twenties, and the interest is regularly appropnated for the Library. . 



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11. The Demilt Fund. 

In 1849, a legacy of five thousand dollars was received from Miss 
Elizabeth Demilt, of New York City, through Mr. George T. Trimble, 
This legacy was specifically appropriated to the Building Fund, and 
formed a part of the amount expended in the erection of the fire-proof 
edifice which was completed and occupied by the Society in 1857. The 
interest on the amount is regularly appropriated for the Library, from 
the proceeds of the rents of the Hall. 

III. The Grosvenor Fund. 

In 1858, a legacy often thousand dollars was received from the late 
Seth Grosvenor, Esq. Of this fund, seven thousand dollars are now in- 
vested in United States Five-Twenty Bonds. Four thousand dollars 
were appUed in the completion and furnishing of the Library Building. 
The interest, however, of the entire amount is regularly appropriated for 
the Library, and the proceeds of the commutation fees for life member- 
ships will continue to be invested from time to time until the entire 
original amount shall be restored. One thousand dollars has already 
been so invested. 

This is done in accordance with the determination of the Society 
that all legacies, not specifically appropriated by the testator or destined 
by him or her to specific objects, shall be securely invested, and the in- 
terest alone apphed from time to time, in furtherance of the main objects 
of the Society. The justice and expediency of this policy are apparent ; 
for while it secures in every instance a perpetual memorial of the bene- 
factor (and even small legacies by the certain law of accumulation will 
produce grand results), it presents also, in every year's report of these 
results, a pledge of the Society's fidelity to their trust, thus encouraging 
the liberality of the generous giver. 

PUBLICATION FUND. 

In order to insure the regular publication of their transactions and 
collections in American History, the Society in 1858 determined to 
establish a fund of twenty-five thousand dollars, represented by one thou- 
sand scrip shares of twenty-five dollars each. These shares are transfer- 
able on the books of the fund, in the hands of the Treasurer, and entitle 
the holders, their heirs, administrators, or assigns, to receive : 



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I. Interest — Until the fund is complete, or is sufficient, in the 

opinion of the Trustees, to enable the publications to commence 
without impairing the principal thereof — interest on the par value 
of their shares at the rate of live per cent, per annum. 

II. Publications — One copy of each and every publication made at 
the expense of the fund, amounting to not less than one octavo 
volume of five hundred pages per annum. 

The number of copies of these publications is to be strictly limited to 
TWELVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY — of which the Society may receive for their 
corresponding Societies and exchanges, for the increase of the Library, 
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY copics — but no copics are to be offered for sale 
or disposition in any other manner by the Society. 

The conditions of this subscription include a pledge on the part of 
the Society that the moneys received shall be applied for these purposes, 
and no other, and shall be invested solely in stocks of the United States, 
the City and State of New York, or on bond and mortgage, and be held 
forever by the President, Recording Secretary, and Treasurer of the So- 
ciety, as Trustees (ex-officio) of the Publication Fund. 

As this fund is not yet sufficiently near completion to warrant the 
commencement of the new series of publications, the Trustees of the 
fund have directed a cash dividend of interest to 1 864 to be paid to the 
holders of scrip shares — for which ample means are at their disposal. 

The completion of this fund is a most desirable object. When at- 
tained, it will give the Society high vantage ground in its relations to its 
future field of operations. In importance it is second only to the Fire- 
proof Building of the Society, which ensures the security and preserva- 
tion of the materials of history which we have been able to accumulate ; 
and it is earnestly to be hoped that the liberality which has never been 
found wanting to us may not hereafter be vainly invoked to accomplish 
so desirable an end. A renewed effort is to be made to complete this 
fund immediately — which ought to be seconded by the active co- 
operation of every member of the Society. 

Publications. 

The regular publications of the Society hitherto amount to sixteen 
volumes in octavo, viz. : — 

Collections— First Series (embracing Smith's History of New York), 
5 vols.; Second Series, Vols. I., II., III. (Part I.), IV. (Catalogue of 
Printed Books, &c.), 4 vols. 



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Proceedings. — 1843-1849 inclusive, 7 vols. 

The second part of the third volume of the Second Series, which is 
now in press, will contain a copious index to all these volumes, and with 
Vol. V. (Catalogue of MSS., Maps, and Charts, &c.) will conclude all 
the former series of publications. The Society has also from time to 
time published various pamphlets not contained in the above series. 

The Historical Museum and Gallery of Art in the 
Central Park. 

The project for the estabUshment of the Museum of the Society, em- 
bracing all their collections of Antiquities and Art, in a portion of the 
Central Park, has, during the past year, received the sanction of the So- 
ciety. At a special meeting in May, the previous action of the Execu- 
tive Comrriittee on this subject was approved — the Society accepted the 
Act of the Legislature, and again referred the whole subject to the Execu- 
tive Committee, with power t'o take such action in the premises as they 
should deem expedient — not, however, involving the Society in any pe- 
cuniary responsibility. 

Under this authority, a special Committee has been organized to make 
the necessary and proper arrangement with the Commissioners of the 
Central Park in conformity with the provisions of the Act of the Legis- 
lature, so as to give the Society the full benefit of all those provisions, and 
afford it the best protection and security for its rights under the Act. 
The same Committee are also to procure a suitable plan of the contem- 
plated improvements, with a general estimate of its cost. Upon the 
adoption of the plan by the Executive Committee, arrangements are to 
be made for the due execution of the various parts, but all in such wise 
that when the contemplated improvements shall be completed, no debt 
or charge whatever on account of it shall remain upon the general funds 
of the Society. 

To secure these objects, another Special Committee has also been 
organized for the purpose of obtaining, by subscription or voluntary con- 
tribution, the funds necessary for the completion of the entire improve- 
ment contemplated, of the Arsenal Building and Grounds in the Cen- 
tral Park. 

LIBRARL^N'S REPORT. 

The Report of the Librarian continues the acknowledgment of pubhc 
and private hberality. The total number of books and pamphlets added 
to the Library during the year 1863 was 1432. Fourteen maps, eighteen 



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volumes bound newspapers, and a large collection of unbound files, 
which will go far towards perfecting sets, and greatly extend the collec- 
tion of the Society. Among the additions by purchase was one of the 
entire collection of MSS., correspondence, letter books, accounts, &c., of 
the American Fur Company. The mass of papers thus rescued from 
the paper millj to which the high price of material had consigned them 
to be ground up, will hereafter prove of great value in the illustration 
of the history of what was but a few years ago our Western frontier 
— now the central continental theatre of busy life in powerful and 
flourishing States. 

TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1863. 

In _ accordance with the By-Laws, the Treasurer herewith submits 
a detailed account of his receipts and payments for account of the New- 
York Historical Society during the year 1 863 : 

Balance on hand, Jan. 1st, 1863, . . .8 541 66 

Receipts for 1863, 13,775 73 

$14,317 39 
Payments for 1863, ^2,355 39 

Balance on hand in Manhattan Company at the 

credit of the N. Y. Historical Society, . $1,762 00 

(Signed) Benjamin H. Field, Treasurer. 

New York, December ^isi, 1863. 

"We, the Committee appointed by the said New-York Historical 
Society to audit the accounts of its Treasurer, for 1863, do certify that 
we have compared the same with the vouchers, and find the balance of 
seventeen hundred and sixty-two dollars ($1,762) deposited in the Man- 
hattan Company, to be correct- 

(Signed) T. Tileston. 

R. B. MiNTURN, Jr. 

New York, Jan. 215^,1864. O. D. F. Grant. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE FINE ARTS. 

The Committee on the Fine Arts beg leave to report, that few 
changes of importance have occurred in their department since their 
last annual communication. 

It became necessary in May last to make a new arrangement of the 
pictures, in order to accommodate some additional specimens of the Jarves 



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Collection, which had not been previously exhibited by us. All the 
modern works were therefore placed in the main gallery, and the Jarves 
pictures, numbering now 1 3 1 in all, were hung in the two small inner 
galleries. The Committee hope that this exhibition of the entire Col- 
lection will awaken sufficient interest among the members to secure its 
purchase, and that it may become the permanent property of the Society. 
Although many of the subjects are of slight interest to modern spec- 
tators, and some of them are treated in a hard and dry manner, they are 
nevertheless of great value as illustrations of the history of the Art, and 
are therefore peculiarly appropriate for the Museum of an institution 
like our own. 

The following are the principal donations which have been made to 
this department during the past year : — 

A portrait of Peter Remsen, Esq., from Mrs. E. A. Newton, of 

Pittsfield, Mass. 
A portrait of Clarkson CroHus, Esq., by Ezra Ames, from 

Clarkson Crolius, Jr., Esq. 
A portrait of the Hon. John Watts, from Gen. J. Watts De Pey- 

ster, of Tivoli. 
Portraits of Rip Van Dam and his Wife, from Mrs. Emily Ver- 

planck Goodwin, of Brooklyn. 
Three pictures, being the legacy of the late Commodore Levy. 
A drawing in water-colors of Bradford's Tombstone in Trinity 

Churchyard, by Abraham Hosier. 
A bust of the Hon. John Watts, after Ball Hughes, from Gen. 

De Peyster. 
And several valuable photographs. 

In addition to the above, the Committee take particular pleasure in 
mentioning the most important gift which the Society has received during 
the year — the collection of original drawings for Audubon's great work, 
the Birds of America. This series, consisting of about 500 paintings, 
are valuable not only for their associations, but their high artistic char- 
acter. They were purchased by a number of liberal and public-spirited 
gentlemen, members of the Society, who united in a subscription of four 
thousand dollars for the purpose. 

The following objects of interest have been deposited in the Gal- 
lery : — 

Eight pictures by Dr. Mayo. 

Six pictures by Peter Richards, Jr., Esq., consisting of — 



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The Country Home, by Church. 

A St. John, and 

A portrait of Gen. Swift, by Huntington. 

A work by Verbryck. 

A Magdalen, and 

A Madonna. 

And the Dies of the Medals struck by the American Art Union, 
by Col. Andrew Warner. 

Before closing their Report, the Committee desire to say a word 
upon the relations between the subject which they have to some extent 
in charge, and the great War in which the Nation is engaged. So far, the 
Arts of Design have very inadequately expressed the heroism, the patri- 
otic devotion, the noble charities of the North, or what, alas ! must, in 
numberless cases, perish from the remembrance of men without any 
record, the unimaginable sufferings and the glorious martyrdoms of the 
loyalists of the South. The pencil and the chisel have done infinitelv 
less than the pen in perpetuating all these things. Indeed, no war which 
was ever waged has been so thoroughly described in a literary way as 
will be this gigantic struggle. No war ever enrolled among its soldiers 
so many men who are skilled in the art of composition. The vast num- 
bers of private letters, diaries, communications to newspapers, official 
reports, pamphlets, apologies of this or that general, besides the more 
ponderous and formal histories, will make the literature of this revolution 
more copious and affluent than that of any war that was ever waged. 
A distinguished gentleman of a neighboring State has already completed 
between thirty and forty thick folio volumes, entirely filled with clippings 
from newspapers alone, and many other persons are making similar col- 
lections. 

But the pictorial method of preserving memorials of this war has 
been either neglected or abused. It is true that the illustrated newspapers 
are full of sketches purporting to be pictures of important scenes, but the 
testimony of parties engaged shows that these representations, when they 
are not taken from photographs, are not always reliable. The desire of 
producing striking effects sometimes overcomes all other considerations, 
and the truth is now and then sacrificed to the demand of dramatic action 
or a pleasing play of light and shadow. Many of these designs are of 
little value excepting as studies of costume, and some of them are posi- 
tively lying and fabulous. If all the terrific hand-to-hand encounters 
which we have seen for two or three years displayed in the pages o[ our 



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popular weeklies, had actually occurred, the combatants on each side 
would long ago have mutually annihilated each other, like the famous cats 
of Irish history. 

The photographers have made so far the most important additions to 
the pictorial history of the war. They have prosecuted their under- 
taking under circumstances of great difficulty and even danger, running 
the risk of having their dark chambers converted into ambulances, or de- 
stroyed by hostile shells. But the caution and deliberation required for 
successful views of this sort are obviously impracticable in the confusion 
of a battle, and therefore it is not surprising that what we have hitherto 
obtained in this way has been little besides a representation of that awful 
" still life " which the plain shows after the conflict is over. 

We hope that more attention will be paid by the higher artists to 
subjects of this sort in future. It is well known that Horace Vernet, 
who has given the most valuable pictures of the French campaigns in 
Algiers and elsewhere, made personal studies of the scenes he painted. 
We are glad to hear that one of our own distinguished painters has the 
intention to illustrate the famous battle of Chattanooga, by visiting the 
spot and seeing with his own eyes the remarkable natural features of the 
scenery which made that conflict not only one of the boldest but also the 
most pictorial in the history of war. 

But so far, as we have already said, little has been done in this way. 
With the exception of Leutze's clever portrait of Burnside, a few excel- 
lent groups in plaster by Rodgers, and two or three spirited drawings by 
Darley and Eastman Johnston, scarcely anything has been produced of an 
enduring character illustrating the war. 

But whatever may be the failure of this extraordinary struggle to in- 
spire our artists with the desire to record its history, it is a curious fact 
that, notwithstanding it exhausts such immense amounts of treasure, and 
causes such wide-spread anxiety and sorrow, it has not apparently dimin- 
ished the prosperity of the Arts of Design. On the contrary, they have 
never been more flourishing than during the three years last past. This 
is shown by the facility with which the chief institution established for 
their benefit — the National Academy — has raised a fund amounting to 
nearly one hundred and ten thousand dollars, and commenced the erec- 
tion of a spacious and beautiful edifice, to contain its schools, museums, 
and exhibitions. Picture galleries are thronged with spectators, and valu- 
able works of Art find purchasers at more liberal prices than were ever 
paid before in this country for such commodities. Striking proofs of this 
are the disposal of a book of Sketches, chiefly by New York artists, at a 



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fair in a neighboring city, for four thousand dollars, and the sale of a 
private collection within a few weeks in New York for more than one 
hundred thousand dollars ! 

In Washington, where the attention of the public and the authorities 
is more than in any other place at the North engrossed in the war, the 
grand plan for the extension of the Capitol advances steadily toward its 
completion. The bronze gates designed by Rodgers, and embodying in 
a series of bas-reliefs the history of Columbus, have been hung in their 
places, and the colossal America, modelled by Crawford and cast in metal 
by Mills, has been successfully raised to the summit of the dome. 

It is a striking spectacle to see a great nation thus quietly adorning 
herself with" the jewels of Art amidst the very smoke of the combat, 
serenely confident in her power to defend them from the profaning touch 
of the traitors who are seeking her life, and to show them to her children 
afterward, when the conflict shall be over, with all their splendors bright 
and untarnished. 

x^ll which is respectfully submitted. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS. 

The Special Committee on whom it was devolved to nominate 
officers of the Society for the coming year, report as follows : — 

Their first choice, and they doubt not that of the Society, as the suc- 
cessor of our late lamented President, was the officer who has so long 
occupied the chair of First Vice-President. Endeared to our own mem- 
bers, and to the community at large, by his dignity of character, his per- 
sonal worth, his uniform courtesy and kindness, and by his well-known 
erudition, the Committee could look nowhere else while he permitted 
them the use of his name. 

Dr. De Witt, however, had, previously to its meeting, signified de- 
cisively his intention of retiring from the active service of the Society, at 
the same time warmly expressing his continued interest in its welfare, and 
his sense of what he alone considers to be an honor conferred upon him 
in the appointment to his present office. Under these circumstances, the 
Committee felt that they had no right to urge upon him the acceptance 
of the Presidency, but solicited him still to lend the influence of his name 
and the weight of his advice to the Society, in the position he now 
holds ; and they are gratified in being able to announce that he has con- 
sented to do so. 



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To filJ the office of President, thus twice vacant, the Committee have 
unanimously fixed upon Mr. De Peyster, now Second Vice-President. 
During the forty years which that gentleman has been a member of the 
Society, he has been, as is well known, its constant and ardent friend, 
and one of its most liberal benefactors. Besides valuable donations of 
his own, he has given his aid effectually on more than one occasion, when 
the very existence of the Society was at stake, nor has it been wanting 
in securing the acquisition of the most brilliant of its collections. In 
thus referring to these facts, the Committee do not intend to exclude 
other qualifications, but they are of opinion that long and good service 
also should be weighed in the scale of preferment. 

In the list of those who have occupied that chair, some of the bright- 
est and best names of our State and country have been enrolled. They 
are, Egbert Benson, Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton, David Ho- 
sack, James Kent, Morgan Lewis, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant, Peter Augus- 
tus Jay, Albert Gallatin, and Luther Bradish. What phase in our history, 
what great public service, what component of our nationality, do not 
those names embody and represent ? 

As Second Vice-President, the Committee offer the name of Mr. 
Benjamin Robert Winthrop, also an old member, and always a faithful 
and earnest worker ; and in nominating him, it is not out of place to 
recal that one of the same name and lineage is now President of the Mas- 
sachusetts Historical Society, and that from his pen the latest, and one 
of the most graceful American biographies has emanated — the life of 
John Winthrop, the great leader of the New England Puritans, and 
perhaps the brightest connecting link between the Old England and the 
New. 

To the remaining offices the Committee recommend the re-appoint- 
ment of the present holders, believing that none can be found more 
zealous and conscientious in the discharge of their duties. The Hon. 
George Bancroft, Foreign Corresponding Secretaiy, who had desired to 
be relieved from duty, has, at the earnest request of the Committee, con- 
sented to retain his position, at least for the present, notwithstanding the 
pressure of his own engagements. 

The names recommended to the Society for the various offices are 
therefore as follows : — 



For President, .... Frederic De Peyster. 

" First Vice-President, . . Thomas De Witt, D.D. 

" Second Vice-President, . . Benjamin Robert Winthrop. 

" Foreign Corresponding Secretary, George Bancroft, LL.D. 

" Domestic Corresponding Secretary, Samuel Osgood, D.D. 

" Recording Secretary, . . Andrew Warner. 

" Treasurer, .... Benjamin H. Field. 

" Librarian, .... George H. Moore. 

In these selections the Committee have consulted what they beUeved 
to be not only the wishes but the interests of the Society. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

(Signed) George Gibbs, 

Charles P. Kirkland, 
William B. Taylor, 
John B. Moreau, 
Henry T. Drowne. 
Hall of the Society, January, 1864. 



FORM OF A BEQUEST. 
I GIVE and bequeathe to " The New- York Historical 

^OQ.\Y.iY ^'' fomidedin the year 1804 and incdrporated hy the 
Legislature of New-Tor k in the year 1809, the sum of 
dollars. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 113 889 3 



